Soup, Part Two
by awesomesen
Summary: Yuna gets the flu. Paine is elected nursemaid. Gen.


_...there's not actually a "soup part one," i just used the same concept and title for an older story of mine, using auron and kinoc instead of yuna and paine._

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x x x

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Yuna had been coughing all morning, and when she didn't eat lunch or dinner the other Gullwings put it to a vote, decided in a margin of six to three that she was sick, and ordered her to go to bed. She didn't go easily.

"I'm fine," Yuna said, jaw set. "Really, Paine, I am." Sitting up in bed with double blankets pulled up around her, she looked much younger than she was—her frilly nightgown and flushed cheeks only helped the impression. Paine had been assigned to guard Yuna and make sure she didn't try to get out of bed—Rikku had volunteered first, but as it turned out Rikku was no good at denying Yuna, and after Yuna's third escape from bed, Rikku had been fired.

"You're not," Paine said in reply, from where she was sitting on the sofa. "Now be quiet. I'm trying to read this." Yuna responded by sneezing, and Paine resumed reading her magazine. _It's just the flu_, she thought idly. _Or a summer cold_. But then again, maybe it was something worse. She'd read somewhere that colds were the root of all illness. And Yuna was the High Summoner, so if she got seriously ill...

Yuna sneezed again, and Paine was struck with the sudden urge to feed her soup. Which was stupid, because Yuna just had a summer cold and would be fine if she would just stop acting stubborn and rest. And anyway, soup wouldn't help anything, even if she was sick.

Yuna coughed. Paine threw down her magazine and headed towards the stairs. "Where are you going?" Yuna asked, making a move to get out of bed. Paine's glare halted her escape, and the High Summoner meekly settled down into her comforters.

"You need soup," Paine said, in a tone that allowed no argument, marching down the stairs. "If you stay in bed and behave, I'll get you some orange juice, too."

Yuna blinked, then nodded. "Okay," she said, snuggling into her blankets further.

Paine was not a very good cook. Barkeep was, however, and since Barkeep had been one of the Gullwings to vote in favor of Yuna being sick, Barkeep happily made a bowl of fish chowder. Paine honestly wasn't sure that fish chowder was high on the list of sickness-healing soups, but... well, it wasn't like she knew how to make anything better. She did pour the orange juice, though, feeling like a bit of a pushover for some reason. When she brought the tray back upstairs, Yuna was still meekly lying in bed, blanket pulled up nearly to her chin. She sat up when Paine approached.

"I'm really not very sick," Yuna tried again. "It's just a cough. Shinra had a cough last week..."

"Shinra has allergies to pretty much everything when he isn't wearing that mask," Paine said. "It's different. Eat."

Yuna took a spoonful. "And last time we were at Djose Rikku was all flushed and acting strange."

"There's a difference between sickness and Rikku being an idiot because she's within a mile of Gippal." Paine sat down on a chair that had been pulled up near the bed, crossing her arms.

"I saw you sneeze yesterday—"

"People sneeze. It doesn't mean they're sick." Paine raised her eyebrows. "_You_ have a fever."

Yuna seemed to have run out of examples. She took another spoonful. "Maybe I can just cast _cure_, or even _curaga _if you think I should take extra precautions. Then I'll be fine and we can go to Macalania like we had planned."

"I didn't think white magic worked on viruses," Paine pointed out. Yuna was probably one of the top white mages in Spira, but she knew better than to try and convince Paine that the rules of magic had changed in that regard.

"It might," she said, sulking.

"What's the big deal? Why are you so against being sick?" Paine didn't get it. Yuna was—oh, she wasn't weak-willed, but she didn't get stubborn over things usually. She was usually pretty cautious, and her white mage training had left her the most knowledgeable of the Gullwings when it came to injury and bad health.

"Everyone's just making a big deal out of it," Yuna sighed, putting down her spoon. "I don't feel sick at all. Or only a tiny little bit. And everyone's acting like I'm dying."

"Are not."

"Are _too_." Yuna all but stuck out her tongue. "I mean, you're standing _guard _over me."

"Just eat your soup," Paine said, not bothering to point out why she was, although she wanted to.

"I'm not hungry," Yuna said. After a short pause, she added: "But not because I'm sick."

"Of course not," Paine replied. "Eat it anyway."

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x x x

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End file.
